Page 44 of Ironhold, Trial Three

Chapter Twenty Nine

It's a day or two before Lady Elara comes to see me at Ironhold. She has me brought to her in a largely empty chamber, high up in the fortress. It's a place I've met her in before but this is a big change to what we have been doing. She has brought me out of Ironhold usually, to meet her down in the temple to Deira, below the city streets.

She looks uneasy as I enter, even though she sits composed upon a couch of dark wood and soft fabric.

“What is it?” I ask her. “Is something wrong?”

She nods. "I thought I should be the one to tell you. As of this morning, I'm not your sponsor anymore. Others with deeper pockets have outbid me."

“But they can't do that,” I say. “I don't want a different sponsor.”

“What you want, what either of us wants, doesn't count for anything in this context,” Lady Elara says.

I wince at that, all too aware of the weight of the collar around my neck. I am a prisoner of the system here in Aetheria, and I get no choice in so many things, including potentially whether I live or die.

“How can someone outbidyou?” I ask. “I thought you were one of the wealthiest people in the city?”

“One of,” she says. She looks uncomfortable again. “But there are others who can outbid me in these things, and I'm not sure which of them has laid claim to you yet.”

“Does this mean we won't be able to keep training?” I ask, knowing the answer even as I say it.

Lady Elara nods. “At least for now. But you already have the power you need within you, Lyra. You just need to practice with it and embrace it. You also need to remember the point of whatwe're doing. We have the capacity to change the empire, for all our kind. We can have an emperor who will allow us to live openly, who will treat the people of the empire well.”

“You’re talking about a coup?” I say.

“It’s what’s needed,” Lady Elara insists. “You need to keep fighting within the Colosseum, and you need to gain the respect and love of the crowd. When the moment comes, we will need them on our side. I will keep working outside it, as will all the others. I truly believe that if we keep going, we can make a difference."

She sounds so certain and so passionate about that that it's easy to get swept up in the feeling that we might be able to change the empire, to make it into something fairer, something where beast whisperers are able to live openly and the poorest are not treated so cruelly. But she’s speaking openly about deposing the emperor now.

“Who would be emperor afterwards?” I say. “You?”

“Do you not think I would be a better choice?” Lady Elara says.

I don’t know. I know that the emperor is cruel, maybe even mad, but what would Lady Elara do that is truly different? Would she shut down the games? Would she release the slaves? She hasn’t said that she would do either.

But honestly what choice do I have other than to do what she's suggested anyway? Keep fighting in the Colosseum? If I don't, I'll die. Gain the love of the crowd? I've seen with everything that happened with Ravenna, just how important that can be as well. I must do what she wants, whereas I must trust that Lady Elara won't simply change her mind.

She stands, briefly taking my hand in hers. "Remember when the time comes that you have the greatest potential of all our kind. I might not be able to contact you but I will be watching.Do whatever you need to do to survive, Lyra. You will be free after this, I promise.”

She heads for the door. I have lost my patron, and I don't know who my new one will be. It might be some noble who just wants to be seen around me now that I have succeeded in the Champions Trials. I hope that's all it is, and it isn’t a noble who has decided they want me as the kind of plaything that Lady Elara has only pretended I am for my protection. Suddenly, the rumors that have protected our secret as beast whisperers don't seem such good protection after all.

Who will my new patron be? What will they demand of me? I know that a patron can require anything of me, might order me into their bed, might order me punished, might parade me around their friends.

Fear fills me at the prospect, but I have no choice. For as long as the system of the games continues, none of us will have any choice.

Epilogue

I return to training, working alongside Alaric, Rowan and a few of the others. Alaric pauses in our training shortly after Rowan and I finish a practice bout.

“I want to suggest something,” he says, looking to the pair of us. “Lyra and I are already allies, but I think the three of us should all be allies.”

That's a big offer from him. In this place friendship is one thing but declaring an alliance means looking out for one another, being willing to fight by each other's side, being willing to put our lives on the line for one another.

“I didn't think you liked me,” Rowan says.

“And you don't much care for me,” Alaric retorts. “But that doesn't stop us from looking out for one another, and I trust that you will do all you can to keep Lyra safe. That's enough.”

Rowan looks thoughtful. “I thought it was the likes of Vex who had little coteries of allies.”

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